Calcutta University: State Educationalists Concerned Over Varsity’s Move to Allow Students to Write Exams from Home


A few days back Calcutta University announced to conduct the final semester examination from October. Following which educationalists in West Bengal have raised concerns about whether the move to allow students to write exams from home would help in evaluating their actual performance.

Educationalists have different opinions on the move of Calcutta University, with some calling for dynamic question patterns and others pitching for the delay in the whole process.

Earlier, CU’s Vice-Chancellor Sonali Chakraborty Banerjee had said that the varsity would conduct final semester exams “in a digital mode” from October 1, and students would get to appear for their papers from home.

However, the former principal of Presidency University Amal Kumar Mukhopadhay stated that writing a paper from home can be anything but an examination.

“Where was the need for such a hurry? Authorities concerned could have waited a little longer for the COVID-19 situation to improve. Battling coronavirus is more important than writing exams,” Mukhopadhay said on Thursday.

Furthermore, questions also arose if CU was planning to introduce the ‘open book system’ for its students, following which its vice-chancellor clarified that no such announcement has been made, and blamed a section of the media for misconstruing her statement on the issue.

Read More: Calcutta University: Final Semester Exams to be Conducted Online from October 1

CU Final Semester Examination Highlights

The vice-chancellor of the institute has informed that all affiliated colleges will get a question paper on mail, sometime before the scheduled time for commencement of the examination.

Following which, students can then send the papers to the candidates on the mail or WhatsApp them individually.

“If there is a problem with net connectivity, he/she can write the answers on broadsheets and submit them in a sealed cover to respective colleges within 24 hours. There is no concept of an open book system,” said CU’s Vice-Chancellor Sonali Chakraborty Banerjee.

“Also, this 24-hour window does not imply that students get to consult others or refer to books. If a student hasn’t studied the subject all these months, it won’t be possible for him or her to find out the answer to a question and write immediately,” the vice-chancellor added.

On the other hand, renowned Indologist and academician Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri said that the varsity should not be giving an entire day to the students, who would be appearing for the exam offline. However, he supported the concept of writing papers from home, given the safety concerns.

“Consulting various course materials during the exam is not easy, as perceived commonly. In this present situation, where candidates are being allowed to write papers from home, it is necessary that question patterns be made flexible and dynamic, and not straight jacket ones, he added.

The West Bengal government asked all state varsities to conduct final semester exams between October 1 and 18 and publish results by October 31.

Read More: Calcutta University: Admission Portal for UG Courses Becomes Operational

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